Steve's problem is a mental one and it has everything to do with his realtionship with JVG. The sooner one of the budges the better. Francis either has to accept that Van Gundy wants things done his way and do it that way, or alternatively Van Gundy has to take advantage of Francis' strength and utilise them instead of making him play in a way that he is uncomfortable and unfamiliar with
I still think Steve should hire Calvin Murphy. He's being forced to shoot jumpers more now than ever before due to defenses adapting to his game. He is obviously not comfortable with shooting jumpers as his main way to get points. I look at Mobley's game. His shots vary. He can get a 3 pointer. He can go for a middle-range jumper. He can get to the basket and fadeaway for a very short-range jumper, or he can just lay the ball up. Steve needs to at least get the layup down, and then expand his game further out little by little. I don't think he should be shooting 3 pointers for now. Being able to stop and pop for a 7 foot jumper would be nice.
even calvin murphy and the chron dude on the half time show said steve needs to be steve, the steve that everyone crtisizes. Feign said steve needs to think hes the meanist and baddest player on the court, like he used too, becasue you cant force him to be a john stockton pg, but you can force him to be as good of a scorer as the upper echoleon of players.
that is one thing that people dont get. With francis's old ways, the rockets were able to score 90+ pts!!!
That is about the pace of the game, not the efficeincy of the offense. Sure we were scoring 90 points, but we were giving up a lot more points as well, due to the increase in total possessions. The halfcourt low post game gives you the best chance to score each time down the floor, when you can't score in transition.
Are you dumb or disingenuous? Please tell me which. That has much, much more to do with the pace of the game and certain sacrifices we make to better the defense than to do with actual offensive performance. It's not brain surgery. Is our defensive really as much better than last year as is the PPG allowed decrease? Of course not. And our offense isn't as worse. If you wish to attribute some of the differential to a misutilization of Francis - there might be an argument. But to assume that it's exclusive evidence of such - is either stupid or disingenuous.
I always look at adjusted field goal percentage to determine how efficient possessions are being used. Points per game fluctuates according to the number of possessions also.
He needs to improve his midrange and long range game this summer. Getting to the basket will always always be valuable, but now he needs other things. I love Sam Cassell's midrange game. I think that Francis can work his way into the system relatively easily, but if he resists, we should trade him for someone like Rashard Lewis, Ray Allen, or Micheal Redd. We need one of the best pure shooters in the league. If Boston continue to stink it up, maybe Francis for Pierce will sound good to them this summer? Maybe McGrady will demand a trade? THIS Steve Francis can cut it for now, but after this season, I'd personally like my 10M dollar man showing better numbers than 16/5/4 with 3 TO's and 40% shooting.
When Francis is playing some defense, he can't score. When Francis was scoring going one on one, he didn't play defense. Go figure.
Kirk Hinrich's line tonight: 23 points 9-17 from the field 5-8 from 3s 7 assists 2 TO That is what I want from my PG.
Does anyone think Francis is doing anything different this year other than missing his shots? He's not fastbreaking any better or different, he's not rebounding any better or worse, he's not even "orchestrating" the offense better - he's just doing it more because we actually have plays. He's just missing his shots. So, the question is, when making his shots, is he what you need? Surely the Steve of last year would make this a better team, but still not a championship or top 4 in the West team...
From what I see, defenses have closed off all lanes into the paint for easy layups. If Steve got a mix of 50% points in the paint and 50% points from outside before, he's being forced to get 75% from outside now. That's a huge adjustment for anyone. I look at Bibby tonight, and I see probably the best outside shooter at the point guard position. Bibby can easily score 80% of his points from outside. An easy layup is a bonus but not a requirement for him to get points.
The defenses may have closed up the lane, but Steve still gets there a lot - he just rarely finishes now.
Steve is suffering. He suffers for a good reason. We need to be patient with him and he needs to be patient with himself and stays positive. Granted it's not easy, but I got to think that JVG is there for a good reason also. He is helping Steve become a great player from a very good one. Steve will grow under him from one-dimensional to a more complete one. Staying under JVG for two years, Steve will become a true all-star. I also happens to think that JVG is one of the smartest person/coach in the NBA. He did not trade Steve mainly because he sees something in Steve and he thinks that there is still hope to make Steve better and he prides himself for making players better. Steve and yao will take us to the promised land. Steve's play is not to his potential. He is still "young". his prime is still ahead of him. At one-point, I thought Yao and Steve could not excel together, I am now hopeful because of my confidence in JVG. Just like JVG does not want to evaluate Yao game to game. He wants to see gradual progress - Yao gets better without people seeing major progress game to game. Steve deserves the same thing. A lot things can happen from now to the end of the season- but the best devil is the one you know. Go ROckets
